No Sunshine State Triple Crown: Jackson signs with Gators

GAINESVILLE -- The roller-coaster recruitment of Immokalee cornerback J.C. Jackson ended Wednesday morning when the four-star defensive back held firm in his commitment to Florida, rebuffing strong advances by in-state rivals Miami and Florida State.

Following weeks of speculation of a possible third flip, Jackson, once an FSU commit, was actually one of UF's first signees to officially fax in his National Letter of Intent.

The Under Armour All-American is purportedly close friends with former UF pledges Dalvin Cook and Ermon Lane, leading many to believe he too would decommit from the Gators.

Wednesday afternoon, Florida coach Will Muschamp discussed Jackson's recruiting saga and much of the "misinformation" on the Internet.

“It’s amazing, I don't really follow the Internet much, but there's so much hearsay and as much information there is out there, in my opinion, there's a lot of misinformation,” Muschamp said.

“I get tons of phone calls about, ‘Well, I heard this, I heard that.’ I mean I can't keep up with all the what‑I‑heard stuff. I have to go off fact, and I go off talking to Lisa, his mother, and Chris, his father, and J. C. I deal with the family and I talk to them. And certainly I don't think our season helped, but I think that he saw his best opportunity to come in and play corner at Florida. You know, seeing Marcus [Roberson] and Loucheiz [Purifoy] and Jaylen [Watkins], our three top corners leaving and moving on that were upper classmen, seeing his opportunity here to play here at Florida, it was something he was excited about.

“I know he looked at some other places, no different than a lot of kids do, and I encourage kids to do, to go make sure they're making the right decision, to go take a look at another place. And so, you know, again, I never ‑‑ we never felt it was that much in the balance, maybe as what a lot of people seemed to think. We never felt that way. And you never know till you get the facts in. Any coach that tells you they know what was going to happen, they can't say that.”

Jackson, at 5-foot-10, 175-pounds, projects as an immediate contributor in Florida's depleted secondary and/or as a play-making returner.